Carbon Fund

The Carbon Fund is the hub of a Plan Vivo project. It acts as a market stall where producers and purchasers of carbon services can meet. The Carbon Fund holds resources in trust for project stakeholders. It will comprise of a bank account where money from carbon purchasers is held until payments are made to producers and a carbon register of carbon credits available for sale.

The legal status of the Carbon Fund must be clearly defined in its statutes. The statues should state who is responsible for authorising the use of carbon moneys and how the project finances are audited. A specified proportion of the money paid to the Carbon Fund by purchasers for carbon services may be used to cover project technical and administrative costs. This allows projects to achieve greater financial sustainability.

In the case of the Scolel T project the Carbon Fund is a non-incorporated body run under Mexican banking law. The Fund itself does not own the carbon or money deposited by purchasers, it merely holds these resources in trust until transactions are complete. US$5 of each tonne carbon sold via the Fund is used to cover project technical and administrative costs.